What Family is For
by BrindyB
Summary: Fili learns from Thorin what really matters most in life when he shows up late and injured on their doorstep. When Kili is in trouble, can Fili remember what it means to be a family?
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a drabble-type 2 shot I whipped up. I wrote it for my best reviewer, _Feathered Filly_ on my other Hobbit story ("Of Thunderstorms, Homemade Stews and Nephews). She has been an amazing support to me and writes oober long reviews, which I just love! Many reviewers, including Filly, Freaking Zebra and C. Palmer (two of my other awesome reviewers!) were saying they loved Fili/Kili/Thorin family dynamics. I do too! :) So, here is a shameless, pointless, plotless story of Durin Family Fluff.**

**The first part out of two is between Fili and Thorin. The next will feature Fili and Kili.**

**EDIT- thanks to Horserida for correcting me on the age difference in Fili and Kili's ages!**

**Dedicated to Feathered Filly!**

Fili sat awake on his bed, watching the moon and stars shining through his window. His little brother lay asleep in another bed beside him, having only fallen asleep less than an hour before. Though he was not in the greatest of moods, Kili had gone to sleep easily in the late hours.

They had basically leapt from bed that morning. Their mother shook her head but said nothing as they waited on the front steps from sun up to sun down. She delivered their breakfast, lunch and dinner, not saying anything about their fruitless endevour.

You see, these boys were expecting someone. This person was important. The young boys had not seen him in several months. This man had only just started coming around more often, following their father's slow death, due to an illness that was too late to cure. Kili was but a baby when his father passed, and therefor had few memories that would not last long anyways. Fili was a bit older, but even his memories of his father were muddled. In all honesty, there was one person he thought of when he imagined his "father."

It was his uncle, Thorin.

To most, his uncle was a bitter, cold-hearted man that scared many. He was stern, serious and oftentimes looked angry. It was not often that he spoke in positive tones, nor even spoke at all.

To Fili, though, his uncle was a hero. He was the man that told the boys stories, and talked to them like they were adults instead of children of only six and eleven in human stature. This man was brave and told them of adventure and travel. Fili looked up to him.

So, it was only natural that they had stayed up all day waiting for him, not leaving the doorstep and only staring down the horizon, waiting for him to show up.

Fili's eyes were beginning to feel heavy. The sun was completely gone and Kili was sleeping soundly. The older brother had to admit, he was tired. He had spent a large amount of the day entertaining his younger brother to keep his spirit up. Being older, Fili remembered his uncle's track record for being on time- it wasn't good. Young Kili did not remember as well and felt bitter disappointment when his uncle did not arrive.

At last, Fili snuggled into his blankets, nearly asleep already. He lay for only a few minutes before he heard the front door of the house creak open. It was shut gingerly, barely making a sound. Kili did not stir.

Fili threw off his covers and listened through the door of his bedroom. He heard heavy footsteps in the hallway.

"You are late," he heard his mother, Dis, say.

"I know," a gruff, familiar voice sighed.

Uncle Thorin!

Fili considered running out to greet his uncle, but hesitated when he looked back to Kili. He knew his brother was afraid of the dark, and would be terrified if he woke up alone. So, the young dwarf continued to listen where he was.

"Are the boys asleep?" asked his uncle. Fili heard the edge of exhaustion in his voice.

"Yes," Dis replied. "They stayed on the front steps all day, waiting for you."

Thorin heaved another sigh. "I am sorry. I was careless when I got close, I was ambushed by a small party of orcs."

"Come and sit, and let me see your wounds."

The footsteps moved away to another room. Fili could hear a slight limp in his uncle's footfalls.

Outside the room, Dis led her brother to a small sitting room. She forced him to sit, though Thorin, naturally, did not wish to comply.

Blood drips lazily from the torn remains of the dwarf's pants. It started on his side and pooled with the blood from other lacerations on his body. The orcs were many and slightly better fighters than normal, but Thorin eventually finished them off. The main injuries were a large bruise surrounding the gash on his side, coupled with a fair-sized cut on his leg that rendered it weak.

Once Thorin had sat down, he felt exhaustion take over. He slouched, sighing.

Dis returned with cloths, medicinal supplies and tools. She knelt by his leg, deciding to start there, and cut away the pant leg. Thorin grumbled, not particularly angry but more frustrated that he had allowed himself to be ambushed. Dis wrapped a strip of cloth around his leg, tying it tight (earning a dissatisfied grunt from her brother). She then looked at his side.

"It is but a scratch," Thorin tried.

"That may be, but orc weapons are never cleanly. Let me wash it, brother."

Thorin sighed and allowed Dis to continue her ministrations. She attempted to pull his shirt up over his head, but found his side and shoulder too stiff and injured. So, as a last resort, she pulled his jacket off and cut the undershirt away.

Seeing the glare she received, it was Dis' turn to sigh. "I will buy you a new shirt."

In his bedroom, Fili caught the hitches in his uncle's breathing all the way across the house. Peering back at his sleeping brother, he decided it would be okay to leave, only for a little bit.

So, the eldest brother slipped out of the room, leaving the door open a crack, and trotted across the house. He found his mother pouring alcohol on his uncle's torn-up side, washing blood and medicine into the pan she had lain on the floor. Thorin was hunched over, his teeth set in a grit and his eyebrows furrowed together. Fili could see that he was resisting making a noise as the alcohol burned his wounds.

"Uncle Thorin!" Fili cried from the doorway. Dis jumped, spilling a bit of the alcohol on the floor. Thorin also started, bolting upright in the chair. Fili stepped forward into the room.

"Fili!" Dis scolded, turning to face him. "You should be sleeping!"

"I heard Uncle," Fili admitted, coming closer still. Thorin looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. Finally, he spoke.

"Your mother is right," he said, a low grumble. "It is late."

"Are you okay?" Fili asked.

Thorin smirked humorlessly. "I am fine. Your mother is just overreacting."

Dis slapped the back of his head with the rag she was using.

"You should have stopped when you got hurt," Fili scolded quickly. "You could have bled to death or somethin.' "

Thorin looked at Dis, amused. "He is your son." He then turned to Fili. "I would have come here no matter what the costs."

"Why?" Fili asked, thoroughly confused. If his uncle was hurt, than wouldn't anyone in their right minds stop? Get some help? Rest, so that you could continue on?

"Because I knew where I was going," Thorin said, passion and meaning behind his words. "I would go to great lengths to come here. I may not have a home, but this is as close as a home as I will ever have. You and your brother, and your mother here, you are family. And I would do anything for my family, even if it is not the most convenient for myself. My injuries are shallow- they only bleed for a bit. Family is permanent, family is more important than any pain I have ever sustained."

Even Dis stopped to glance at her brother. Her cold, quiet brother, the one who never truly admitted to loving anyone or anything, just said all of that? She looked to her son and saw Fili beaming. She knew then what Thorin's words really meant to him.

He had just been taught something only Thorin could pass on. She knew of family, but one who had experienced more loss was the one with the wisdom. Loosing her husband was hard, but not unexpected, in the condition the dwarf had been in. To unexpectedly loose someone and still be as strong as Thorin was, that was inspiring to her. She could honestly say that she envied that sort of wisdom. She could also say that she was happy to have someone like Thorin around to serve as a father to her sons.

As the three sat in silence. Dis was thinking, Fili beaming with pride and Thorin slightly out of breath from speaking. As they sat in peace, it was suddenly shattered by something that made Thorin's icy heart instantly tear.

A blood-curtling, terrified scream from down the hallway. Fili was the first to react, bolting away like a dragon chased him. He shouted but one word as he ran.

"Kili!"

**Well, that is it for the first part! Second [and final] part will be up in a day or two. Please review to tell me what you think of it! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**At last, the final installment! Sorry it's taken me a while to post. This week has been horrid. My car broke down, I had a few semester exams, and I had to have my dog put to sleep yesterday. Either way, here it is! Thanks for my faithful reviewers and please check out my profile. I have many other stories yet to be posted and a few Works in Progress waiting to be reviewed on my account! ;)**

**Dedicated to Feathered Filly, Call Brandybuck and all my other amazing reviewers!**

"Kili!" cried Fili as he darted down the hallway, back to his bedroom. He instantly regretted having left his brother alone, under the assumption that he was now having a nightmare. Thorin and Dis pursued him also, thinking the same thing.

However, Fili broke into his bedroom and saw Kili, fully awake, struggling against the silhouette of someone much larger. The offender had clamped it's filthy hand over the young dwarf's mouth, but Fili could still hear muffled screams coming from his brother.

When the door burst open, the creature whipped around to see Fili. In the dull moonlight, the young dwarf could see that this was not a dwarf- it was much to tall- and it's face was most certainly not human.

If his assumptions from the stories he had been told were true, it was an Orc.

Fili wasted no time, not worrying for his own safety. He ran to his bed and reached under his pillow, where he kept his treasured knife, gifted to him by his late father. The Orc stepped back, growling, while still holding Kili captive. Fili held his knife in front of him.

"Let my brother go!" demanded Fili, waving the knife to the best of his abilities. The Orc looked merely amused, but Thorin burst in not a moment later. Recognition and shock appeared on both the dwarf prince's face and the Orc's.

"Release my nephew," ordered the burly dwarf. Dis stood behind him, frozen.

The orc sneered and held Kili roughly by the hair. The youngest dwarf cried out when he was nearly lifted from the floor by the locks of black, curly hair. Fili's heart tore hearing that sound.

Thorin reached for a dagger that was on his belt, but found it was not there. Dis had removed the belt when she was cleaning the wound on his side. He reached towards Fili, not taking his eyes off the orc nor his young nephew. Fili saw Thorin's extended hand, suddenly putting two and two together. He pressed the hilt of the knife into his uncle's hand.

The orc hauled Kili up closer, holding a knife to the boy's pale throat.

"I said..." Thorin growled. "Release. Him. I will kill you where you stand."

The orc replied by pulling Kili in front as a shield. Thorin gritted his teeth, unsure of whether to advance or not. He could see Fili standing to the side, staring at his uncle for guidance. Kili's terrified eyes were wide, pleading.

Thorin stood absolutely still. He did not want to spook the orc- his nephew would surely perish. He thought he heard something outside the open window, undoubtedly the way that the orc entered the room.

_Just my luck... if there is more than one orc, I will not be able to protect Fili and Dis, and rescue Kili.._.

However, Thorin was relieved to see the floppy ears of a familiar hat outside of the window, bouncing shadows in the moonlight.

_Perfect.._.

Thorin saw that Fili was getting a little nervous, wanting to get his brother back in his arms. Thorin wanted to motion for him to be patient, but could not risk a move.

_Only a few more moments..._

At last, a small pick ax came through the open window, knocking the orc's head. The orc was not seriously hurt, but he was shocked. He whipped around, momentarily letting go of Kili. Thorin took his chance and rushed the creature, shoving it out of the window before finishing it off with a clean cut to the throat. He made sure it was dead before he looked around. A toothy grin and floppy hat came into his line of sight.

"Bofur," Thorin sighed. "I cannot thank you enough."

"There is no need to," Bofur responded. "I heard little Kili screaming. You know that everybody in the Blue Mountains would do anything to help your boys there."

Thorin gave Bofur a small smile. He clasped his friend's shoulder. "Nevertheless, thank you. I was beginning to fear the worst would happen."

Bofur returned the gesture. "Go inside and take care of those boys. I'll go get Dwalin to help me clean this up." He glanced at the dead orc for a moment before nodding to his friend, leaving to hunt down the aforementioned dwarf.

Thorin ran back to the front door and found his way back into the boys' room. Dis stood in the hallway, and stopped Thorin from going in. She shook her head, gesturing for him to be quiet. Thorin and his sister peered into the small room.

Fili held his young brother protectively to his chest, rocking slightly. Kili was clutching to his brother like a lifeline, crying quietly.

"I'm here, Kili, I'm here," Fili continued to repeat.

Kili was trying to compose himself enough to speak, but found it improbable. Fili soothed his little brother's messy curls back, waiting patiently. Finally, Kili moved back, though he still hung onto his brother's shirt.

"Are you okay?" Fili asked quietly, scanning his brother. "That creature did not hurt you?"

Kili shook his head, still not trusting his voice. Fili could see a small line drawn across his neck where the knife had been, but it didn't appear to be bleeding.

Fili noticed, worried, that his brother still seemed distraught. "Hey, Kili," he said, tipping his brother's chin up to lock eyes with him. "The orc is gone, it cannot hurt you anymore."

" 'S not that," Kili replied, rubbing his nose. "When it grabbed me, it told me..."

Fili saw his brother struggle. "You don't have to-"

"It told me if I made a sound, it would kill you!"

Understanding washed over Fili. His brother's eyes were filled with fear and guilt.

"Everybody is okay, though."

"But he could have got you! I was supposed to be quiet and I wasn't!"

Fili's eyes softened. "He was trying to scare you. That is their nature, they live to cause fear. _Nobody_ could have been quiet."

"Uncle Thorin probably would."

In the hall, Thorin tensed slightly. _Those boys have so much faith in me... Too much. _

"You know, Uncle met a party of orcs on the way here. He tried to fight them off, but he couldn't. He got hurt."

Kili sniffled, whipped his gaze to meet his brother's. "Is he okay?"

"Yes. He just arrived not long ago. But you see, my point is that not everybody is perfect. Uncle Thorin got hurt, but he still won. That is what's important. You may have shouted, but you are alive. _That _it what's most important."

"I didn't want you to come rescue me," Kili admitted.

"Why?" Fili replied, flabbergasted.

"I didn't want you to get hurt. 'Specially because of me."

Fili straightened up, glaring hard at his brother. "Now, you stop that. None of what just happened could ever be your fault. Okay? You were brave, I probably would have been screaming my head off, but you were brave. You've nothing to feel guilt over.

"And secondly, do not worry for me. I am your big brother, I should be watching over you. That orc underestimated us, you know why?"

"Why?"

"Orcs don't have a family. They don't know what love is. They can't understand it." Fili made sure his brother was listening. "And family never _ever _leaves one behind. I don't care if it is one orc or a hundred, I would still come to your aide. That is just what family does. And I've no doubt that if I got myself in a bit of a pickle, you would not hesitate to rescue me."

Kili nodded.

"And no matter what, we have each other. That's what really matters. Family sticks together, and that won't change. Uncle Thorin, mom, you and me. We'll always look out for one another and be there when we need to be."

Kili finally nodded with confidence, giving his brother a puppy-dog-eyed smile.

"Come on then," Fili said, standing. He pulled his brother up off the floor.

"Where are we going?"

Fili looked down at his brother. "To have some cocoa. It's the best medicine."

Dis hurried away before she could be seen, with Thorin on her tail, as the boys turned and headed for the door. When they reached the sitting room, Thorin was sitting on the couch, holding the cloth to his side again, and Dis was making a few mugs of cocoa.

And so, the broken little family sat with their mugs in hand. They told stories. Sometimes they laughed, sometimes they sat on the edge of their seats for Thorin's next words, but they were content. They sat in the room for hours, talking until the throats hurt and laughing until their sides were sore.

Eventually, everybody drifted to sleep, mugs dropping to the floor unnoticed.

In the morning, Thorin was the first to wake. The early morning sun shone through the windows and he gazed upon the sleeping figures. His sister sat curled up on her favourite chair with a blanket around her shoulders. Thorin smiled, standing. He readjusted the blanket and set a pillow under his sister's head so her neck would not hurt.

He then turned and saw his nephews. Fili sat up against the back of the couch, his legs drawn up on the couch. Kili rested peacefully with his head laying across his brother's lap, snuggled into the warmth. His little hands had been clutching his brother's shirt when he fell asleep. A small hand lay on the curly hair- Fili had been absentmindedly stroking his brother's locks when they fell asleep. The two breathed in sync, little snores echoing through the silent room.

As Thorin went to the kitchen to clean up from the night before, he could not resist a smile.

_This is home. _

**Well, that's the end! Sappy sappiness is super sappy. I had to write something not heart-breaking because I have a few angsty fics in mind. I am also open to ideas- I love to write! Send me a message or leave a review if you have an idea! (but you can also leave a review for fun ;) )**


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